Scaling up the Well Centre’s primary care led, integrated youth hub model to other SLaM boroughs

The Well Centre Charity has been funded by the Maudsley Brighter Futures Fund to improve the primary care offer to young people in the South London and Maudsley (SLaM) boroughs of Lambeth, Lewisham, Southwark and Croydon. This will involve testing a stepped approach that builds new youth-friendly primary care services in these areas in a controlled and supported way. The aim is to help reduce barriers to care so that young people can access holistic support when and where they need it, including for mental health problems.

This is an extension and spread of the well-established and well-regarded Well Centre service that already operates in Lambeth, sometimes referred to as an integrated youth hub model. The project will run for three years from 1 January 2026

The Maudsley ‘Brighter Futures Fund’ project has three main elements

• Rolling out different elements of the model in the four SLaM boroughs, from establishing the building blocks where no service currently exists, to expanding a full service model where this is already operational. Tracking and evaluating implementation progress will provide important data on what works.
• Testing the impact of Well Centre provision on young peoples’ longer-term outcomes using novel primary and secondary care mental health data
• Developing digital health platforms to support the provision of mental health care in primary care settings.

The work plan

The work is being coordinated by the Well Centre Charity, in partnership with the King’s CAMHS Digital Lab. Staff will be located in both organisations. In addition to core staffing, the grant includes allocated funding for implementation work in each of the four SLaM boroughs. This will be used for various purposes such as supporting training, stakeholder forums, and meetings of a ‘community of practice’. 

The first six months of the programme will focus on setting up governance arrangements, such as staff recruitment, planning workstreams, and appointing an advisory group. This will also involve further design and development, building on the co-design that has already been completed with all four boroughs. After that implementation work will begin in consultation and partnership with colleagues in the four boroughs, starting in the summer and autumn of 2026.

At the announcement of the grant John Poyton, the Well Centre Charity’s CEO, said: “Together with the CAMHS Digital Lab, we’ll help reduce barriers so young people can access support when and where they need it. By building a wide alliance of GPs, primary care, charity and statutory partners – and by researching what works and finding room for improvements and innovation – we will strengthen the ecosystem of support in the neighbourhoods in which young people live, to empower them to be healthier, safer and happier.”